Fastening for paper or other articles.



No. 643,045. Patented Feb. 6, I900. H. DENIS.

FASTENING FORPAPER OR OTHER ARTICLES.

(Application filed June 24-, 1899.)

(Nb Modal.)

NrTnD STATES PATENT Finch.

HENRY DENIS, OF NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA.

FASTENING FOR PAPER OR OTHER ARTICLES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 643,045, dated February 6, 1900.

Application filed June 24, 1899. Serial No. 721,779. (No model.)

To on whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY DENIS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of New Orleans, in the parish of Orleans and State of Louisiana, have invented certain new and use ful Improvements in Fastenings for Paper or other Articles, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to devices which may be employed for fastening loose sheets of paper together or for securing the flaps of envelops or other closures, the article being useful for all purposes for which ordinary paperfasteners are available.

The object of my invention is to provide a very effective but inexpensive and easily-applied fastening device which shall embody a disk and bur impinging opposite sides of the sheets to be held together and witha connecting-shank which holds them securely together.

In carrying out my invention I prefer to have the disk integrally or otherwise permanently attached to the shank to form the bur with a central perforation surrounded by a lip, which adapts it to engage a shoulder on the shank, and to provide the shank with a plurality of shoulders, with any one of which the bur may engage, and thus adapt the device for securing together any reasonable number of sheets of paper. After the bur is brought into engagement with that shoulder which causes it to impinge against the paper the protruding end of the shank beyond the shoulder being engaged may be nipped ofi, by a suitable tool or allowed to remain, as circumstances may dictate.

My invention willbe fully understood upon reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a perspective View of the fixed disk and shank. Figs. 2 and 2 represent by perspective and edge views two types of the bur which may be used. Fig. 3 is a sectional View illustrating the application of the device. Fig. 4 is a perspective view illustrating the mode of removing the protruding end of the shank.

1 represents the disk, and 2 the shank,which is divided throughout its length, or such portion thereof as may be necessary, with downwardly-presented shoulders 2, provided with frusto-conical portions, so as to permit the bur to slide freely in one direction, but to prevent its movement in the opposite direction.

3 represents the bur, which is preferably constructed, as shown in Fig. 2, with a central perforation 4, surrounded by lips 5, pro- 3' ectin g radially inward and slightly deflected from the plane of the bur, so as to adapt them to spring over the shoulders 2 of the shank in one direction, but to engage said shoulders and oppose the movement of the bur in the opposite direction. If desired, however, an effective bur may be constructed by simply fiaring or deflecting the surrounding Wall of the central perforation 4, as illustrated in Fig. 2.

Fig. 3 represents by a sectional view a use to which the fastener may be put. It will be seen that the bur 3 has been forced down upon the shank 2 far enough to bring the bur and the disk into impingement with the block of paper A, while the upwardly tending lips 5 engage beneath the shoulder 2 in such a manner as to hold the parts securely together. All of the protruding end of the shank 2 beyond the particular shoulder 2 engaged has been removed, and the device thus provides a neat and effective fastener suitable for any purpose for which ordinary paper-fasteners are employed. Fig. 4 illustrates the manner of removing the protrudingportion of the shank. It is not essential, however, that the protruding portion of the shank be removed,'for obviously the shank may be originally constructed in different lengths appropriate to various uses to which the articlemay be put.

Itis preferable to construct the end of the shank as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 4, as the article is thereby adapted to form its own perforation and avoid the necessity of an expensive tool for insertion or the inconvenience of making a perforation by another instrument. The pointed end, however, is not essential, for obviously papers may be punched by another instrument and the fasteners may be originally constructed in the form illustrated in Fig. 3.

The uses of the device illustrated in the drawings are merely suggestive, and it will be understood that the device is available for fastening papers in various ways-as, for instance, fastening the flaps of envelops or of packages and for other like purposes-or the device may be employed in other connections where the thickness of the article secured varies-such, for instance as securing the tufting-buttons in upholstering. In this connection it should be noted that the shank may be cut off at approximately the proper length before applying the bur, and the bur may form part of the button or be provided with a cap for obscuring the protruding end of the shank, or, if used for upholstering, the button which is exposed to view may take the place of the disk 1.

It is obvious that the upper member may be constructed with the perforation completely through it or only partially through it-that is to say, instead of the form of disk shown in Fig. 2 a capped form of disk of any well-known type may be employed, and this as well for paper-fastenings and for sealing envelops as for other purposes, it being only necessary to have the shouldered shank of length appropriate to the thickness of the article to be secured by severing the surplus length of the shank beforehand and then applying the capped disk.

It will thus be seen that my invention is not restricted to any particular use, but consists in providing the disk and bur or their equivalents with the connecting-shank having a plurality of shoulders to be engaged, whereby the range of use of the article is greatly increased.

Having thus described my invention, the following is what I claim as new therein and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

In a device of the character described, the combination with a disk, a shank extending therefrom having downwardly presented shoulders provided with frusto-conical portions, of the bur comprising a central perforation surrounded by lips 5 projecting radially inward and slightly deflected from the plane of the bur.

HENRY DENIS. lVitnesses:

THEO PETERS, CHAS. F. MADISON. 

